Void Crowne - Book 1 - Chapter 54 (Patreon)

For those of you who are reading this on a website that is not Patreon, please stop. You're reading a pirated version. Instead, if you would be so kind, please click on the table of contents link below and go to my Patreon instead. Or even read it off of Royal Road, which is free.

Discord Invite

Table of Contents

I will be editing the previous posts to be locked to the correct Tiers soon.

Click on the following link for the 1650 word Chapter 54:

https://docs.google.com/document/d/1jXaA4PyGzJASkBzWTZN3_EfJanYvJRhTzFpXpecXtiM/edit?usp=sharing

Or read the following unformatted chapter on Patreon:

Somewhere on the Planet of Furtruna

“Hurry up! If you keep lollygagging like this, we’re gonna miss the chance to enter the dungeon!” Rigo hears their party leader shout as he hurries to gather his things. “And I mean you Rigo!”

“Yeah, yeah, I’m moving as fast as I can!” Rigo shouts back before grabbing his sword as the last of his things and rushing after Vurtra and the others, who are heading towards the very low city wall. Catching up within moments.

“Geeze, Rigo, can’t you move faster?” Riri asks with a clicking scoff. But Rigo doesn’t say anything.

Not even when the other members of his party join her and the party leader in complaining. Because it’s always been like this. He’s always been the punching bag of their group.

He just grits his teeth and bears it as they leave the city – one that they’ve been working in helping with construction along with the rest of their tigerkin living in the System City – heading towards the dungeon closest to their city. And when they arrive, they find three other parties of tigerkin waiting at the entrance.

“What took you so long, Vurtra?!” Jarax, the leader of the strongest party present, shouts with a slight snarl. “We’re behind the other parties now! What if we miss out on one of those Achievements because of you?!”

Rigo grits his teeth harder when Vurtra slaps his shoulder, pushing him down as he says, “This runt kept us because he was busy gathering his stuff! If you want to blame anyone, blame him!”

A chill runs down Rigo’s spine when he sees Jarax’s cold gaze turning towards him. And it only grows worse when the tigerkin glances back at Vurtra and says, “I still don’t know what you did to get stuck with a weak runt like that in your clan, but don’t let him slow us down inside of the dungeon. Or else I’ll kill him before the monsters get a chance.”

“Go ahead,” Vurtra says with a shrug, finally removing his hand from Rigo’s shoulder. “If he’s so weak he can’t even keep up in the dungeon, he’s better off dead than embarrassing my clan like that. He’s humiliated us enough already.”

Rigo feels like his fangs are about to shatter from how much he’s gritting them. But he doesn’t say a word.

That’s just how tigerkin society is like.

The strong are respected, while the weak are scorned.

And Rigo admits that he is weak. Even his fur is a dull gray rather than the silver of the rest of his clan.

The only thing he has to offer is his Bloodline, and he’s kept that to himself. Because he’d rather die than offer his help to those who have treated him so poorly all of his life.

Rigo’s gaze turns towards the dungeon. Or, more specifically, towards the label above it.

◊ User Aidan Vale’s Bronze Tier Grassy Plains Dungeon ◊

He’s almost certain he recognizes the name in the label, but he has no plans to tell the others.

None at all.

Whether the others have already recognized it and decided it must be a different Aidan Vale or not is none of his business. Rigo has his Bloodline to help him escape if necessary, so he doesn’t plan on helping them survive if problems emerge.

So, with those thoughts in mind, Rigo follows the parties into the dungeon with a full group of twenty tigerkin. Himself included. And when they pass through the portal, they find themselves in a dark forest at night.

No messages greet them, nor do they see any monsters immediately.

Despite that, all of the tigerkin in the dungeon can’t help but scrunch up and cover their noses because of the smells they find lingering in the forest.

The smell of rot, decay, and something absolutely sickening mixed in.

“Undead?” Vurtra mutters, to which several other tigerkin nod their heads in agreement. “But what’s this… putrid… smell?”

It’s not the first time they’ve all smelled undead. They were a common sight in the Tutorial for some people, and there are undead races amongst the users as well. But the other smell is one neither Rigo, nor the others recognize.

“Push forward,” Jarax orders, and the other group leaders follow suit, echoing the command. Leaving Rigo to follow after all of them at the back of the force.

And it doesn’t take long for something strange to happen.

When they get further into the forest, the scenery begins to shift. The trees and plants around them begin to show signs of some sort of infection, with a deep and visceral black and green liquid oozing out of parts of the plants.

A liquid the tigerkin immediately recognize as the source of the putrid smell.

“Do you think this might be a type of poison from slimes?” Riri asks, but another group’s leader immediately shuts that theory down when he says, “I saw different types of slimes in my Tutorial, and those weren’t anything close to this texture.”

“Then it’s a type of virus or poison? Or parasitic infection in the plants?” Rengel, another member of Rigo’s clan and party, suggests.

“Just don’t touch it and we won’t need to find out,” Vurtra orders, making Rigo grit his fangs again at the reckless command.

If it were that easy to avoid it, then it wouldn’t be a problem.

Rigo carefully watches the liquid as it drips down from the plant and seems to spread its infection to whatever it touches. But, whether it’s only spreading to plants, or if it’s spreading to animals too, he can’t tell. Because they are the only animals here.

Until they finally hear something in the bushes.

All of the tigerkin grab their weapons while turning towards the bushes. Only to find three lumbering zombies moving out of the bushes.

The zombies are wearing armor, and they’re also coated in the same greenish black substance as the plants. But their levels put the group at ease after they all identify the zombies.

[Level 26 Blighted Zombie Soldier]

[Level 26 Blighted Zombie Soldier]

[Level 26 Blighted Zombie Soldier]

Rigo stays far away from the zombie soldiers, making sure not to get in the way of the others. But also making sure to keep a large distance between himself and the monsters.

And it’s not just because he’s afraid of them. Even he could kill monsters of this level.

What he’s afraid of is the greenish black liquid dripping from in-between their suits of armor down onto the ground.

A fear that proves to be correct when one of the tigerkin of another group rushes forward and cuts off the head of the zombie nearest him. Sending the greenish black liquid all around the zombie, with some of it landing on him.

The liquid immediately sizzles against his skin before burning into his body and then disappearing into his veins. No longer burning him.

But his screams that started upon the burning process don’t stop even after the liquid enters him and stops burning him.

Rigo stays far away from the man as he roars in pain, bringing the full attention of the other tigerkin to him after they finish off the other two zombies with arrows.

“Jaran, get ahold of yourself,” Jarax orders with a scowl. “These are level twenty-six zombies. If you’re this weak, you have no-”

Jarax’s words cut off when Jaran’s roars grow so loud they go hoarse. Meanwhile the liquid continues to spread through his body, making his veins begin to glow with a faint greenish tint.

The leader of that assault team clicks his tongue before shouting, “Someone stuff an antidote down his throat!”

One of his group members hurriedly grabs a magical antidote that was made by some of the alchemists in a neighboring city. She then dumps the liquid down his throat, making the greenish tint on his veins begin to fade away. Implying the curing of whatever the greenish black liquid did.

But right as the tigerkin are beginning to focus on their surroundings again, the liquid suddenly starts spreading through his body again.

Even Rigo feels surprised that a single antidote isn’t enough to cure it.

“Grab more antidotes and shove them down his throat! Quickly!” Jarax shouts, but his orders are too late. The other tigerkin hesitate to give the antidotes they paid for to him without knowing if it’ll even cure him, and the greenish black liquid finishes spreading all throughout the tigerkin’s body. Making his eyes begin to glow with a sickly greenish black light.

Then Jaran suddenly growls and rushes to attack the one who gave him the antidote. Catching her off guard and dragging his claws across her waist, with some of the corruptive liquid dripping down his claws and into her body as well.

“Blasted idiots!” Jarax roars before walking over and swinging his sword to cut the head off of Jaran, whose identify result had changed completely to identify him as a monster. A blighted tigerkin. Then he walks up to another tigerkin, picks them up by the collar, and orders, “Antidote. Now.”

The tigerkin shakingly grabs it before handing it to Jarax, who then moves and dumps it down the female tigerkin’s throat himself. Curing it this time.

“It takes less antidote to cure the sooner they were infected,” Jarax states his observation. Then he turns and orders, “Do not let that liquid touch you. If you do, you’re dead.”

Rigo feels mildly satisfied at the sight of the dead Jaran. Simply because he remembers being beaten a few days ago by that very tigerkin.

He then turns his gaze onto the other tigerkin in the groups of the assault force.

It likely won’t be long before the rest of them join him.

And Rigo can’t wait to see that.